A Raft Pilot's Log cont. Complete List of Raft Pilots, 1840-1913 265 Teh following facts about raftmen and rafting and thge complete list of allpilots engaged in the work in any part of the period from 1840 to 1913 are taken from an article in the Davenport 'Democrat' and republishedin the 'Waterways journal, December, 1913. {The list was very carefully made up and I had many to help me. If we have missed any one, we have not been reminded of it since. In January,1928, I only can count thirty of the list above.} The towboats are sunken and dismantled and disintegrated hulks, the bones of many being the relics of an almost forgotten industry are strewn along the shores of the river. A few- and whatr a few they are- are working as sand-boats and towboats and general river craft. The great rafting traffic on the big river, in its infancy in 1841, slowly matured year by year, growing larger with each succeeding yearly cycle until in the 1880, the river traffic of rafts was reckoned one of the largest and most profitable industries in the United States. Then came the decline/ Later in the eighties the rafts coming down the Mississippi began to fall off in numbers, the towboats plying up and down the river to be fewer and fewer and gradually but surely the business dwindled. The falling off of the river traffic has continued until the present year when during the entire season, but three rafts went down. 266 Towed by 'Ottumwa Belle' These three reminders of the old days were towed through by the 'Ottumwa Belle,' the only survivor of the great fleet of ninety raft-boats that were in the business on the crest of the wave in 1880. The season of 1914 will see the end of the reafting business, when the 'Ottumwa Belle' will take three rafts through, the last three rafts ever destined to go down the river, and the knell of the once great traffic will be rung. The 'Ottumwa Belle' is owned by S. & J.C., Atlee of Fort Madison. The master of the 'Belle' is Walter Hunter, one of the few remaining raft pilots. And the masters, pilots and crews who manned the big fleet. Of the army of pilots, numbering over two hundred and fifty, who were the guardians of the fleet in their trips up and down the river thirty years ago, but seventy-three are known to be living. There may be other survivors, but they are not known to Captain W.A. Blair, who has compiled the complete list of those who were engaged in pilotiing in the early days. Of the seventy-three members of the profession, for it was indeed a profession, several have retained high places politically, others have abandoned the river and taken up a less romantic vocation, and still others have drifted to other navigable rivers to continue their chosen work. Old River Men Meet Prominent among the one-time raft-boat pilots is Colonel E.W. Durant, who is perhaps one of the most noted members of the body. Colonel Durant, who was once Lieutenant-governor of Minnesota and twice served his state as state senator, at the age of eighty-four years is, hale, healthy and happy. 267 He is an ardent follower of Isaac Walton and likes nothing better than sunning himself with a fishline in hand. He is also a great story=teller. On a trip of the 'Morning Star' in 1912 from Davenport to Saint Paul, I had Colonel Durant and Captain S.B. Hanks as my guests and I greatly enjoedtheir company and their reminiscences and they aided me in completing and checking up the list of raft pilots which I had prepared with the help of Captains Cyprian adn Joseph Buisson and John Monroe. Captain hanks piloted his alst raft June,1844. His death occured in August, 1917, at the age of ninety-four. Three in Ols Guard Three pilots, S.E. Lancaster of LeClaire, Iowa, O.J. Newcomb of Pepin, Wisconsin, and Morrel Looney, of LaCrosse are still following their chosen profession on the Yukon river in Alaska during the summer months. Others well known are Peter Kirns of saint louis, who for years was engaged in that business in Saint Louis. John McCaffrey, another of the old-time pilots, is a planter in Louisiana. Captain McCaffrey is a teller of wonderfully interesting stories of the old river and raft-running and is not at a loss for listeners. Joseph and Cyprian Buisson, two of the pioneers, are still piloting on the Mississippi. Cyprian was master of the steamer 'Helen Blair' last year and Joseph Buisson piloted the 'St. Paul' during the past season. Three of the living river pilots are located in Clinton. Joseph Duley is at the present time engaged in the unromantic calling of liveryman, but secretly his thoughts turn to his first love and enters the sand and gravel businees "to get the river smell," he says. O.P. McMahon and A.E. Duncan, also of Clinton, have retired from business with a comfortable fortune, The latter two were designers and builders of the steaner 'Silver Crescent.' to be cont.